Flow valve

ABSTRACT

A flow valve that may act as either an excess flow valve or a pressure relief valve has a seat and a valve body for sealing against the seat. The valve body has an integral spring arm for biasing the valve body towards or away from the seat to seal or open a flow of fluid, and a magnet cooperating with the spring arm to position the body relative to the seat to maintain the body in a first position during a normal flow condition and maintain the body in a second position in an abnormal flow condition.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/005,619 which was filed on Jan. 13, 2011 and is incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many fluid flow control devices, such as check valves, are spring ormagnetically biased towards an open position. If a differential pressureexceeds a predetermined value, the valve is biased closed.

However, there are certain disadvantages in using spring biased deviceslike spring biased poppet-type check valves. The spring exertsincreasing force against the flow as the poppet is closing and, thus,closing action is less positive and less reproducible.

Further, poppet valves and associated springs are relatively heavy, areadversely affected by gravity, and may be indifferently orientedrelative to the direction of gravity forces, thereby making low flowpressure operating conditions difficult for proper operation.

Similarly, magnets that hold check valves may be required to be largerunder certain operating conditions and may minimize the effective flowcapacity of fluid flowing through a pipe.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment, a flow valve that may act as either anexcess flow valve or a pressure relief valve has a seat and a valve bodyfor sealing against the seat. The valve body has an integral spring armfor biasing the valve body towards or away from the seat to seal or opena flow of fluid, and a magnet cooperating with the spring arm toposition the body relative to the seat to maintain the body in a firstposition during a normal flow condition and maintain the body in asecond position in an abnormal flow condition.

These and other features of the present invention can be best understoodfrom the following specification and drawings, the following of which isa brief description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a valve.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the valve of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the valve of FIG. 1 and a first operatingcondition.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the valve of FIG. 1 and a second operatingcondition.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, an embodiment of the present valve 10 isshown. The valve consists of a magnet 15 having a cylindrical shape(other magnet shapes are contemplated herein), a magnet body 20, a valveplate 25, and a cartridge 30.

The magnet body 20 has a cylindrical, ring-like base 35, a pair of arms40 extending from the cylindrical base, a pair of shoulders 45 attachingto the arms 40, and a pair of transverse supports 50 connecting to theshoulders 45 and holding a cylindrical body 55 having a bore 60therethrough. The bore 60 holds the magnet 15 securely therein byfriction fit or otherwise.

The valve plate 25 has a body 65 that is flat and cylindrical (thoughother shapes are contemplated herein) from which a pair of spring arms70 extend outwardly and then there around the body. Each spring arm hasan opening 75 at a distal end 80 thereof. Each opening 75 is placed overa stake 85 disposed in the shoulder 45 of the magnet body 20 to securethe valve plate 25 to the magnet body 20. After placing the spring arms70 on the magnet body, the stakes 85 are melted to secure the valveplate 25 on the magnet body.

The cartridge 30 has an inner bore 90 through which fluid flows and anouter shoulder 95 upon which the cylindrical base 35 of the magnet body20 is disposed. The cylindrical base 35 and the cartridge 30 aredimensioned to fit securely within a vessel such as a pipe 100, or thelike, through which fluid flows. The cartridge has a seat or face 105over which the body 65 is designed to rest to impede flow through thecartridge 30. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thecartridge 30 may be integral with a pipe.

The magnet body 20 and the cartridge 30 may be constructed of a suitablematerial such as plastic or metal. Similarly, the valve plate 25 may beconstructed of a light, hard material that is attracted to magnets.

In operation and referring to FIGS. 3, the magnet may be in one orseveral positions within the magnet body, e.g., parallel 110 to supports50, between 115 the supports 50 and the valve plate 25, or touching 120the body 65 or other positions depending on the requirements of thevalve 10.

During normal operation indicated by normal flow arrows 125, the body 65is static. If there is such a condition to create excess flow throughthe pipe 100, the excess flow forces (arrows 135 in FIGS. 3 and 4), thebody 35 is pushed away from the forces of the magnet 15 against thespring forces of spring arms 70 towards the cartridge 30 to seat againstthe face 105 thereby cut off flow through the pipe. As the body 65 ispushed towards the face, the spring arms 70 thereon deform and create aforce pulling the plate away from the face 105 so that if the excessflow condition 135 abates the springs will pull, in conjunction with themagnet 15, the body 65 back to allow regular flow there through. To varythe time required to allow the body 65 to move away from the face 105 inthe cartridge 30, the magnet 15 may be placed at within the bore 60 asdesired.

The tension of the spring arms and the force of the magnet combine toallow a user to design a valve 10 for particular flow requirements. Forinstance, if the magnet is closer to the body 65, the attractive forceis greater and the body 65 will move away from the face 105 with higherpressure against it. Similarly, moving the magnet away will provide lessforce on the body 65 and lower pressures are required to bias the springarms away from a static position. Also, if the spring arms 70 are madestronger, more pressure may be required to move the body 65 towards theface 105. If the spring arms 70 are made weaker, less pressure may berequired to move the body 65 towards the face 105. A user may then varythe strength of the spring arms and the placement and strength of themagnet to tune a valve for the particular results required.

Referring to FIG. 4, the valve 10 may be utilized as a pressure reliefvalve. In this Figure, the body 65 and its integral spring arms 70 arebiased away from the face 105. The magnet 15, as above may be placed inseveral positions 140, 145 depending on requirements of the valve.Because the valve plate is biased towards the seat, the valve will notmove away from the plate unless an excess flow condition pushes thevalve away as shown by solid lines. By allowing the magnet to haveseveral different positions within the magnet body, one can tune thevalve to work with different pressures.

For instance, if the magnet is closer to the body 65, the attractiveforce is greater and the body 65 will move away from the face 105 withlesser pressure against it. Similarly, moving the magnet away willprovide less force on the body 65 and higher pressures are required tobias the spring arms away from a static position. Also, if the springarms 70 are made stronger, more pressure may be required to move thebody 65 away from the face 105. If the spring arms 70 are made weaker,less pressure may be required to move the body 65 away from the face105. A user may then vary the strength of the spring arms and theplacement and strength of the magnet to tune a valve for the particularresults required. As such, this valve and magnet arrangement can be usedfor excess flow or pressure relief depending on the means of anoperator.

By utilizing a combination of a spring arms 70 and a magnet 15, thecooperating forces thereof allow for the design envelope to increaseflow capacity without affecting the closing flow of fluid through thevalve 10.

Although a combination of features is shown in the illustrated examples,not all of them need to be combined to realize the benefits of variousembodiments of this disclosure. In other words, a system designedaccording to an embodiment of this disclosure will not necessarilyinclude all of the features shown in any one of the Figures or all ofthe portions schematically shown in the Figures. Moreover, selectedfeatures of one example embodiment may be combined with selectedfeatures of other example embodiments.

The preceding description is exemplary rather than limiting in nature.Variations and modifications to the disclosed examples may becomeapparent to those skilled in the art that do not necessarily depart fromthe essence of this disclosure. The scope of legal protection given tothis disclosure can only be determined by studying the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A valve regulating a flow of fluid therethrough,said valve comprising: a seat, a body for sealing against said seat,said body having a spring arm integral therewith for biasing said bodytowards or away from said seat to seal or open a flow of fluid, and amagnet for cooperating with said spring arm to position said bodyrelative to said seat to maintain said body in a first position during anormal flow condition and maintain said body in a second position in anabnormal flow condition.
 2. The valve of claim 1 further comprising; acartridge for being disposed in a fluid flow said cartridge definingsaid seat for cooperating with said body.
 3. The valve of claim 1further comprising: a structure for holding said magnet relativelycentral to said body.
 4. The valve of claim 3 further comprising; acartridge for being disposed in a fluid flow said cartridge definingsaid seat for cooperating with said body, said structure impinging uponsaid cartridge.
 5. The valve of claim 4 wherein said structure has aring-like base and said cartridge has a cut-out for receiving saidring-like base.
 6. The valve of claim 3 wherein said body is attached tosaid structure.
 7. The valve of claim 6 wherein said spring arm of saidbody is attached to said structure.
 8. The valve of claim 1 wherein whenin a said first position, said spring arm is biased towards said face tokeep said body against said seat.
 9. The valve of claim 8 wherein whenin said second position said spring arm is biased away from said faceand said body is away from said seat.
 10. The valve of claim 9 whereinan abnormal flow of air moves said body into said second positionagainst said spring bias and with a pull of said magnet.
 11. The valveof claim 10 wherein when said abnormal flow of air ceases said springarm moves said body into said first position.
 12. The valve of claim 1wherein when in said first position, said spring arm is biased away fromsaid face to keep said body away from said seat.
 13. The valve of claim12 wherein when in said second position said spring arm is biasedtowards said face and said body is against from said seat.
 14. The valveof claim 13 wherein an abnormal flow of air moves said body into saidsecond position.
 15. The valve of claim 10 wherein when said abnormalflow of air ceases, said spring arm and said magnet moves said body intosaid first position.
 16. The valve of claim 1, wherein the magnet ismoveable between at least a first magnet position and a second magnetposition.